1.
Richmond, California
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Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7,1905, under the McLaughlin Administration, Richmond was the largest city in the United States served by a Green Party mayor. As of the 2010 U. S. Census, the population is at 103,710. The largest, Richmond, Virginia, is the namesake of the California city, the Ohlone Indians were the first inhabitants of the Richmond area, settling an estimated 5,000 years ago. The name Richmond appears to predate actual incorporation by more than fifty years, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad had its terminus at Richmond. The first post office opened in 1900, Richmond was founded and incorporated in 1905, carved out of Rancho San Pablo, from which the nearby town of San Pablo inherited its name. Until the enactment of prohibition in 1919, the city had the largest winery in the world, in the 1920s the Ku Klux Klan was active in the city. In 1930 the Ford Motor Company opened a plant called Richmond Assembly Plant which moved to Milpitas in the 1960s. The old Ford plant has been a National Historic Place since 1988, the city was a small town at that time, until the onset of World War II which brought on a rush of migrants and a boom in the industrial sector. Standard Oil set up here in 1901, including a what is now the Chevron Richmond Refinery and tank farm. There is a pier into San Francisco Bay south of Point Molate for oil tankers, the western terminus of the Santa Fe Railroad was established in Richmond with ferry connections at Ferry Point in the Brickyard Cove area of Point Richmond to San Francisco. Many of these lived in specially constructed houses scattered throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including Richmond, Berkeley. A specially built rail line, the Shipyard Railway, transported workers to the shipyards, kaisers Richmond shipyards built 747 Victory and Liberty ships for the war effort, more than any other site in the U. S. The city broke many records and even built one Liberty ship in a five days. On average the yards could build a ship in thirty days, the medical system established for the shipyard workers at the Richmond Field Hospital eventually became todays Kaiser Permanente HMO. It remained in operation until 1993 when it was replaced by the modern Richmond Medical Center hospital, Point Richmond was originally the commercial hub of the city, but a new downtown arose in the center of the city. It was populated by many department stores such as Kress, J. C. Penney, Sears, Macys, during the war the population increased dramatically and peaked at around 120,000 by the end of the war. Once the war ended the workers were no longer needed

2.
Contra Costa County, California
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Contra Costa County is a county in the state of California in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,049,025, the name is Spanish for opposite coast, referring to its position on the other side of the bay from San Francisco. Contra Costa County is included in the San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area and it occupies the northern portion of the East Bay region and is primarily suburban. In the northern part of the county, significant coal and sand deposits were formed in even earlier geologic eras, other areas of the county have ridges exposing ancient but intact seashells, embedded in sandstone layers alternating with limestone. Layers of volcanic ash ejected from geologically recent but now extinct volcanoes, compacted and now tilted by compressive forces, may be seen at the site of some road excavations. This county is an agglomeration of several distinct geologic terranes, as is most of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, younger deposits at middle altitudes include pillow lavas, the product of undersea volcanic eruptions. There is an extensive but little recorded human history pre-European settlement in this area, the earliest definitively established occupation by modern man appears to have occurred six to ten thousand years ago. However, there may have been human presence far earlier, at least as far as non–settling populations are concerned, extensive trading from tribe to tribe transferred exotic materials such as obsidian throughout the region from far distant Californian tribes. Unlike the nomadic Native American of the Great Plains it appears that these tribes did not incorporate warfare into their culture but were generally cooperative. Within these cultures the concept of individual or collective land ownership was nonexistent, early European settlers in the region, however, did not record much about the culture of the natives. Most of what is known comes from preserved contemporaneous and excavated artifacts. Although there were no missions established within this county, Spanish influence here was direct and extensive, in 1821 Mexico gained independence from Spain. Mission lands extended throughout the Bay Area, including portions of Contra Costa County, between 1836 and 1846, during the era when California was a province of independent Mexico, the following 15 land grants were made in Contra Costa County. Rough surveying was based on a map, or diseño, measured by streams, shorelines, and/or horseman who marked it with rope, lands outside rancho grants were designated el sobrante, as in surplus or excess, and considered common lands. The law required the construction of a house within a year, fences were not required and were forbidden where they might interfere with roads or trails. Locally a large family required roughly 2000 head of cattle and two leagues of land to live comfortably. Foreign entrepreneurs came to the area to provide goods that Mexico couldn’t, Rancho Canada de los Vaqueros was granted to Francisco Alviso, Antonio Higuera, and Manuel Miranda. Two ranchos, both called Rancho San Ramon, were granted by the Mexican government in the San Ramon Valley, in 1833, Bartolome Pacheco and Mariano Castro shared the two square league Rancho San Ramon

3.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565

4.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

5.
Chevron Corporation
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Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation. One of the companies of Standard Oil, it is headquartered in San Ramon, California. It was also one of the Seven Sisters that dominated the petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s. Chevrons downstream operations manufacture and sell products such as fuels, lubricants, additives, the companys most significant areas of operations are the west coast of North America, the U. S. Gulf Coast, Southeast Asia, South Korea, Australia and South Africa. In 2010, Chevron sold an average 3.1 million barrels per day of refined products like gasoline, diesel, Chevrons alternative energy operations include geothermal, solar, wind power, biofuel, fuel cells, and hydrogen. In 2011–2013, the company planned to spend at least $2 billion on research, Chevron has claimed to be the worlds largest producer of geothermal energy. In October 2011, Chevron launched a 29-MW thermal solar-to-steam facility in the Coalinga Field to produce the steam for enhanced oil recovery, the project is the largest of its kind in the world. Chevron is also one of the first two brands to be Top Tier certified. The other is Tulsa, Oklahoma based QuikTrip, one of Chevrons early predecessors, Star Oil, discovered oil at the Pico Canyon Oilfield in the Santa Susana Mountains north of Los Angeles in 1876. The 25 barrels of oil per day well marked the discovery of the Newhall Field, in September 1879, Charles N. Felton, Lloyd Tevis, George Loomis and others created the Pacific Coast Oil Company, which acquired the assets of Star Oil with $1 million in funding. Pacific Coast Oil became the largest oil interest in California, by time it was acquired by Standard Oil for $761,000 in 1900. Pacific Coast operated independently and retained its name until 1906, when it was merged with a Standard Oil subsidiary, another predecessor, Texas Fuel Company, was founded in 1901 in Beaumont, Texas as an oil equipment vendor by Buckskin Joe. The founders nickname came from being harsh and aggressive, Texas Fuel worked closely with Chevron. In 1936 it formed a joint venture with California Standard named Caltex, to drill, the Texas Fuel Company was renamed the Texas Company, and later renamed Texaco. In 1911, the government broke Standard Oil into several pieces under the Sherman Antitrust Act. One of those pieces, Standard Oil Co. went on to become Chevron and it became part of the Seven Sisters, which dominated the world oil industry in the early 20th century. In 1926, the changed its name to Standard Oil Co. of California. Today Chevron is the owner of the Standard Oil trademark in 16 states in the western and southeastern U. S, to maintain ownership of the mark, the company owns and operates one Standard-branded Chevron station in each state of the area

6.
Chevron Richmond Refinery
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The Chevron Richmond Refinery is a 2, 900-acre petroleum refinery in Richmond, California, on San Francisco Bay. It is owned and operated by Chevron Corporation and employs more than 1,200 workers, the refinery processes approximately 240,000 barrels of crude oil a day in the manufacture of petroleum products and other chemicals. The refinerys primary products are motor gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel and it is also one of the worst industrial offenders for Contra Costa County. The refinery was established several years before the City of Richmond was incorporated in 1905, construction on the refinery began in 1901 between the Potrero Hills and the marshlands in the Point Richmond District, the refinery was opened in 1902. The refinery was built by Standard Oil and its first headquarters was in a farm house at the former site of the Peters. The complex was described as colossal at the time and to this day it remains a large complex of its kind. In its first year of operation the plant could process 10,000 barrels of oil per day and had a capacity of 185,000 barrels in that same first year. William Rheem played a key role in the construction and implementation, being the project manager. Furthermore, Rheem continued on to be a key and historic figure in the City of Richmond. The presence of the burgeoning refinery transformed the town of Richmond from a rural agricultural community with 200 residents to a company town of several thousand within a few years. The number of cars in the United States rose from 1.6 million to 5.6 million from 1914 to 1918. Motor trucks, farm tractors, and aircraft all increased at a comparable rate, as a result, the demand for gasoline, lubricants and other petroleum products intensified. By 1915, the refinery spread across 435 acres, employed 1,700 workers, and had a capacity of 60,000 barrels a day. Not only did the refinery produce transportation fuels, it also had a plant, an asphaltum plant, a can factory, a barrel works, a machine shop. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the Richmond refinery became a producer of fuel for trucks, tankers, trains. At the end of the war the company shifted its focus back to basic product research, by 1924, the laboratorys staff grew to 75 skilled employees, who engaged in tests and experiments, not only to develop new uses for petroleum, but to improve existing processes. In 1938 the refinery constructed a new Hydro Plant for the production of aviation gasoline. It was the first in the Western United States to produce synthetic gasoline by combining purified hydrogen gas with an unsaturated gas by-product from gasoline cracking operations, with the onset of World War II the refinery saw major changes

7.
Native American gaming
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Native American gaming comprises casinos, bingo halls, and other gambling operations on Indian reservations or other tribal land in the United States. Because these areas have tribal sovereignty, states have limited ability to forbid gambling there, as of 2011, there were 460 gambling operations run by 240 tribes, with a total annual revenue of $27 billion. The Bryans had never received a property tax bill from the county before, unwilling to pay it, they took the tax notice to local legal aid attorneys at Leech Lake Legal Services, who brought suit to challenge the tax in the state courts. The Bryans lost their case in the district court. They then sought review in the United States Supreme Court, as Gaming Law Professor Kevin K. Washburn has explained, the stage was now set for Native gaming. Within a few years, enterprising Natives and tribes began to operate Indian bingo operations in different locations around the United States. Under the leadership of Howard Tommie, the Seminole Tribe of Florida built a large high-stakes bingo building on their reservation near Fort Lauderdale, the law was enacted from the charity bingo limits set by Catholic Churches. A District court ruled in favor of the Natives, citing Chief Justice John Marshall in Worcester v. Georgia, here began the legal war of Native gaming with a win for the Seminoles. Controversy arose when Natives began putting private casinos, bingo rooms, the Natives argued for sovereignty over their reservations to make them immune from state laws such as Public Law 280, which granted states to have criminal jurisdiction over Native reservations. In the late 1970s and continuing into the decade, the delicate question concerning the legality of tribal gaming. The Court addressed the potential gambling had for organized crime through the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, as Stuart Banner states, the Cabazon Band and the neighboring Morongo Reservation had some HUD buildings and a few trailers, but that was about it. The people simply didnt have a lot, the Cabazon Band turned to casino operations, opening bingo and poker halls in 1980. Shortly thereafter, the Indio police and the Riverside County Sheriff shut down the halls and arrested numerous Natives while seizing any cash. The Cabazon Band sued in court and won, as did the Seminole Tribe in Florida. Although the tribe won in the courts, the Supreme Court reviewed the case in 1986 to reach a decision over whether Native reservations are controlled by state law. These compacts have been used by officials to confiscate Native casino revenue which serves as a special tax on Native reservations. Essentially, the still have exclusive right to all classes of gaming except when states do not accept that class or it clashes with federal law. Currently all attempts to challenge the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act on constitutional grounds have failed, after President Reagan signed the IGRA, Native gaming revenue skyrocketed from $100 million in 1988 to $16.7 billion in 2006

8.
Progressivism in the United States
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Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of corporations and railroads. In the 21st century, progressives continue to embrace concepts such as environmentalism, Social progressivism, the view that governmental practices ought to be adjusted as society evolves, forms the ideological basis for many American progressives. Historian Alonzo Hamby defined progressivism as the movement that addresses ideas, impulses. Emerging at the end of the century, it established much of the tone of American politics throughout the first half of the century. Many of the principles of the Progressive Movement focused on the need for efficiency in all areas of society. The real enemy was particularism, state rights, limited government, Progressives repeatedly warned that illegal voting was corrupting the political system. It especially identified big-city bosses, working with saloon keepers and precinct workers, the solution to purifying the vote included prohibition, voter registration requirements, and literacy tests. All the Southern states used devices to disenfranchise black voters during the Progressive Era, typically the progressive elements in those states pushed for disenfranchisement, often fighting against the conservatism of the Black Belt whites. A major reason given was that whites routinely purchased black votes to control elections, in the North, Progressives such as William URen and Robert La Follette argued that the average citizen should have more control over his government. The Oregon System of Initiative, Referendum, and Recall was exported to many states, including Idaho, Washington, many progressives, such as George M. Forbes, president of Rochesters Board of Education, hoped to make government in the U. S. Progressives in the South supported the elimination of supposedly corrupt black voters from the election booth, while the ultimate significance of the progressive movement on todays politics is still up for debate, Alonzo L. Hamby asks, What were the central themes that emerged from the cacophony. And what was the impact of American foreign policy, were the progressives isolationists or interventionists. Imperialists or advocates of national self-determination, and whatever they were, what was their motivation. Not surprisingly many battered scholars began to shout no mas, in 1970, Peter Filene declared that the term progressivism had become meaningless. The Progressives typically concentrated on city and state government, looking for waste and these changes led to a more structured system, power that had been centralized within the legislature would now be more locally focused. These changes led to a solid type of municipal administration compared to the old system that was underdeveloped. The Progressives mobilized concerned middle class voters, as well as newspapers and magazines, to identify problems and concentrate reform sentiment on specific problems